Stories for March 13th 2012

Despite the Falklands Legislative Assembly and many Islanders voicing their displeasure at the previous activities of an Argentine group of rugby players in the Falklands, Rugby Sin Fronteras (Rugby without Frontiers) are planning a third visit on April 13, this year.

Cameron and Barack Obama have described the unique and essential relationship between the US and UK ahead of a visit by the prime minister to Washington. In a joint article for the Washington Post, the two leaders said the world counts on our alliance.

Brazil extended on Monday a 6% tax on foreign loans and bonds issued abroad by local companies to include lending with duration of as long as five years, the third measure taken this month to weaken the Real. Since March 1, the currency has weakened 5.6%.

Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori strongly criticized the current situation in Mercosur blasting protectionist measures of both Argentina and Brazil, which together with Paraguay are full members of the block

By Barack Obama and David Cameron (*) - Seven decades ago, as our forces began to turn the tide of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Washington to coordinate our joint efforts. Our victories on the battlefield proved “what can be achieved by British and Americans working together heart and hand,” he said. “In fact, one might almost feel that if they could keep it up, there is hardly anything they could not do, either in the field of war or in the not less tangled problems of peace.”

Sunday rains and flash floods in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile have left an estimated 800 people homeless forcing the city to close schools while the local chapter of the National Emergency office, Onemi, raised the alarm level from orange (moderate) to red (maximum).

India will keep a controversial ban on its cotton exports for now after ministers failed to agree its fate at the weekend, even after top buyer China had criticised the move, which boosted global prices.